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tv   Morning Joe  MSNBC  March 22, 2013 3:00am-6:00am PDT

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i'm here in your home, having a pretty spectacular tuesday.
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we asked you at the top of the show why you're awake. john tower with the answers. >> we have biff. our very own punxsutawney bill has accurate weather predictions every morning and we are fine with it. >> jeremy asks what does groundhog taste like? i think is pushing it a little bit too far. great show, everyone. "morning joe" starts right now. ♪ >> given the ties between our countries, i believe your future is bound to ours. no, no.
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this is part of the lively debate that we talked about. this is for a. i have to say we actually arranged for that because it made me feel at home. you know, i wouldn't feel comfortable if i didn't have at least one heckler. >> there you go. good morning. it is friday as you take a live look at times square in new york city. welcome to "morning joe." it's march 22nd, by the way, with us on the set we have msnbc contributor mike barnicle. hello, mike. senior political editor and white house correspondent for the huffington post, sam stein is here. and senior national correspondent for bloomberg business week josh green. hi, guys. how are you? >> good to be here. >> we start with the news. a developing story. three people dead this morning following a shooting at the u.s. marine base in kwan a quo, virginia. official say a gunman killed two
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marines before taking his own life. the suspect is believed to be a marine staff member on the base. the base was put on lockdown until officers cleared the area we will follow the story and have more as we get it. president obama wrapping up his visit to israel before heading to neighboring jordan. today he tours certain spots including tombs as well as the holocaust memorial museum and follows a visit to the west bank yesterday and a speech in jerusalem where he offered america's unflinching support to israel and calling for a renewed start to the middle east peace process. >> those who adhere to the ideology of existing of israel exist israel is not going anywhere. so long as there is a united states of america,
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[ speaking in foreign language ] you are not alone. the only way to truly protect the israel people over the long term is through the absence of war, because no wall is high enough and no iron dome is strong enough or perfect enough to stop every enemy that is intent on doing so from inflicting harm. just as israelis built a state in their home land, palestinians have right to be a state in their home land. i'm going off script a little bit. before i came here i met with a group of young palestinians from the age of 15 to 22. and talking to them, they weren't that different from my daughters. they weren't that different from
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your daughters. or sons. i honestly believe that if any israeli parent sat down with those kids, they would say, i want these kids to succeed. i want them to prosper. i want them to have opportunities just like my kids do. i believe that's what israeli parents would want for these kids if they had a chance to listen to them and talk to them. i believe that. >> not bad in the jerusalem post entitled how would obama's speech. reads in part. obama delivered a potent plea to the israeli people to continue to work for peace, saying that not only was it the right just the thing to do it was the smart thing to do but one must question whether his chosen audience was indeed the one that needed convincing.
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>> josh, very moving words by the president in israeli. >> yeah, it was. to get a standing ovation in israel from young jews calling for a palestinian state is an achievement. >> mike, what did you think? >> strong day for the president. strong two days for the president in israel. not much in terms of specific policy, but his presentation to various audiences and the things that he said to the various audiences and to the world were very powerful messages. >> sam, this is a president that threw out much of his first term. wi was not trusted by a large number of israel people. look at ti looking at the speeches and events he did yesterday, i suspect that is not the case for much of his second term. he is engaged in the way he hasn't been engaged in israel and i got to believe it can only
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benefit the peace process moving forward. >> yeah. there is a generational divide in israel like there is here. a reason he spoke to young israelis. it's clear. he wants to be able to move the israel political process without having gauge bibi's new government as much as he needs to. you saw him say additional settlement activity be counterproductive and the right to sovereignty. i thought it was an important speech and established you can do peace through security as well as security through peace. >> it's interesting that a part of the speech, not one of the speeches that he has given within the last day, is he appears to be going a bit over the head of bibi and on directly to the israel people. >> it was an kind of awkward statement that bibi had to put out after the fact and didn't address the substance of what
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the president said but said we agree the peace process needs to be restarted and it needs to move forward. >> you could hear the classic tones of obama and empathizing with their opponent we are one people and like a red/blue speech for the middle east. we move now to syria where the civil war there is only intensifying. a devastating bomb blast tore through a mosque in the capital yesterday and killing at least 42 people. among then one of the country's top clerics and supporter of the regime. a leading opposition group is denying responsibility for the attack. the united states, meanwhile, is opening its own investigation into claims that chemical weapons have been used in the fighting. president obama says that if the allegations prove true, it would be a, quote, game-changer. senators carl levin and john mccain are calling now on the white house to take more active steps to force syria's president from power. the leaders of the armed
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services committee suggest that using precision air strikes to target the military's aircraft without putting american troops on the ground. >> carl levin, huh? yeah. >> that's interesting. >> it is. >> i didn't expect that one. >> i know. he was for the iraq war until he was against it, until bush became president. >> yeah. >> so as long as we have got a democrat in there, i think good people of syria can depend on carl levin to be with them. >> it's interesting he has appeared with senator mccain who is a very vocal advocate of more strength being thrown toward the rebels of syria including eluding to putting ground troops into syria and now levin and mccain combined. >> the drum beat is growing louder. this report of a chemical weapons attack seems to be something we should step back and let the investigators investigate it. >> we would have been there a long time but the past decade of
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war, 70,000 dead in syria. we would have gotten together with the international community. we would have figured out a way to stop the killing. >> some people would consider that a game-changer. >> yeah, 70,000? >> that's what i'm saying. you know, not so long ago, we were talking about 20,000 dead there. now up to 70,000 dead. we went in to bosnia and kosovo for a lot more than 70,000 dead. >> preiraq war and goes to show you how much the game has changed. >> a bunch of stories to get to. gun control now. majority leader harry reid made it clear it would include provision that would expand background checks to private sales and he demanded amendments for assault weapons after the measures left out of the final bill but the proposals in the
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senate may not be enough for vice president joe biden. in a joint appearance with mayor michael bloomberg in new york city yesterday, biden evoked the memories of a newtown shooting and implored lawmakers to ban assault weapons. >> for all of those who say we shouldn't and can't ban assault weapons, for all of those who say the politics is too hard, how can they say that? when you take a look at those 20 beautiful babies and what happened to them and those six teachers and administrators. tell me how it violates anyone's constitutional right to be limited to a clip that holds ten rounds, instead of 30. >> if you actually read the constitution and supreme court decisions, but there is the need to get the 60 votes to get something through the senate.
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and you're just not, sam, going to get 60 votes on assault weapons right now. you're not going to get 60 votes on high capacity magazines right now. i think, though, i really do believe that even if republicans are dragging their feet now, if you have a vote on criminal and mental background checks, republicans are not going to want to have to go -- especially the senate candidates are not going to have to go around saying, you know what? i oppose making it tougher for felons, for criminals to get guns. i want -- i want felons. i want convicts. i want rapists that have already been convicted to have a free pass when they go in and they go online. i want them to be able to buy guns on the internet. i want convicted rapists to have the freedom to go on to a gun show and, please, give them the freedom, give them the liberty
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to buy another weapon that they can use in a violent act against a woman or against a man -- no, you know what? republicans can't be against criminal and mental background checks unless they want to lose some senate campaigns in 2014. >> you think arming rapists is bad politics? let me get this straight. >> no. there are a lot of people in washington right now whob beliee the rapist too has a constitutional right to be able to purchase a gun on the internet because if we check to make sure that rapists weren't able to purchase guns on the internet, if we checked to make sure rapists weren't able to purchase guns at gun shows, why, that's a violation of all the constitutional rights. i'm not a philosopher, but i remember reading one time, growing up, this very moving,
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moving statement about the holocaust. first, they came for the rapists and i said nothing. then -- you know where this ends up. with a very fabric of the second amendment -- seriously. i am making a much bigger point here. good luck republicans being against background checks for criminals and people with mental health issues. >> here is the state of play. harry reid recognizes exactly that and not a dummy. he has seen all of these polls of background checks at 90%. the math in the senate is more difficult than 90% issue but he wants to force the vote for precisely the points you talk about. >> it will be -- to stop rapists and other felons from just being checked when they go online or go to a gun show. >> i agree with you. he recognizes parts of hi own body that want to have the --
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>> left arm? >> his own chamber. whatever. you know what i mean. >> it's early. >> i need more coffee. he wants -- >> this is a long-winded answer. >> i'm done. >> he is struggling. >> you were talking about -- >> it gets to the incoherence, the mind boggling incoherence of opposition to universal background checks, because they literally do the slippery slope argument. if you take the rapist gun away from them, then you're coming to get my gun. >> if you stop a rapist to be able to get a gun on the internet or if you stop a rapist from being able to get a gun at a gun show, well -- >> i'm next. >> no, you're not. >> the slippery slope of them is the federal regulation of guns and the sales record. i think that is sort of the red herring as well. >> that is the true index of how
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powerful the nra that come. you have to use a proxy, fbi background check. >> we are not talking about what would really make a difference here. that is not even on the table. >> i think it would make a difference. i think 90% of most gun violence is done with handguns. i think -- i read 2% of the gun homicide are done via assault weapon. if you can stop homicidal man c maniacs from buying a handgun because of the background check -- >> i think they can find another way to get them but it's a start. >> if you talk to mike bloomberg, you talk to other people that have champions of sensible gun regulation, they will tell you will, yes, the assault weapon ban, especially in light of sandy hook, would be a very powerful symbolic victory and i agree. mike bloomberg and others knows if you want to stop the gun violence not just in sandy hook and in chicago and across america your best shot is having mental and criminal background checks. >> i think he also realizes this
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is a long process. this is an important policy victory at stake. background checks i think 40% of gun sales because of these loopholes don't include background checks so getting that is a big step forward. >> it's a double whammy. federal trafficking statute would allow you to come down hard on purchasers but only if you have a record of the purchase. if you remove of the purchase of the record from the equation it's tough to come down hard on those purchases. >> joining the call for a strirkt gun l stricter gun laws was yoko ono. she tweeted out this picture of the bloody glasses john lennon was wearing when he was shot with the statistic that over a million people have been killed by guns in the u.s. since his murder more than 32 years ago. tomorrow marks three years since the legislation was signed into law. the health care legislation.
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according to congresswoman -- >> did you see this yesterday? sebelius is saying republicans are actually going to help expand medicaid. some governors are making this decision. doesn't john kasich do this in ohio? >> but the house of florida stopped him. >> the governor of florida decided he was going to take the medicaid money but the speaker of the house, who we will try to get on the show because it's an absolutely fascinating, to get him and the president of the senate to come up on the show to talk about it. they decided to actually veto it. >> why? >> because they believe the federal government will pay for it the first couple of years but after that, the cost is dumped on the states. you talk to any governor, democratic or republican alike, they tell you that medicaid is their biggest long-term -- so
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they are concerned about what happens in -- >> arizona, florida, new jersey. >> look. this is a good illustration of a law that was written the right way, right? the big story the last couple of weeks has been sequestration. it's failed and supposed to be written in a way that guaranteed a compromise. the idea behind obama care when it kamed to medicaid it would write a law so attract and they couldn't turn it down. a lot of debate about that. i think they have turned out to be validated in that. most of them are now starting to come around. >> michelle bachmann is a supporter of it? in florida you got one party in tallahassee. >> but it also shows you the republican divide. a republican governor who understands the economics, the
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need to govern and get these people health care in the kind of ideal log in his own party and know they will not do this. >> rick scott has to run statewide and you're looking at a million plus people who could get health insurance because of his decision. but it's not a problem if you're a governor who has got to think about election in a few years. >> no. it will help him an awful lot. but i tell you what, if you are a state rep up from where i'm from. >> totally different. >> somebody says, hey, you want to support president obama's obama care provision on medicaid? ask charlie crist. the correct answer is, no, i did not. yeah, ask charlie crist. >> we don't have time for michele bachmann? >> no, we don't. maybe later. >> dr. brzezinski is coming up.
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>> dr. zbigniew brzezinski will be here and reince priebus and senator chris coons and jean chatzky. >> they are both good guys. >> steele said he beat him in a cage match. >> really? >> as if anybody was wondering. >> can "morning joe" host that? >> i would like to. like they are doing over on "headline news." what is happening there? i have no idea. somebody asked me about that. i don't even know what is going on, but apparently there is some sex trial going on. do you guys know? who is the name? >> i don't know. >> arias. what is the name? >> if barnicle doesn't know it, nobody does. >> jodi arias.
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>> i didn't know about it i. th are running it 4 hours a day. >> up next the stop stories in the politico playbook and news for business travelers out there who are looking to make their lives a little easier at the airports. we will explain that in the morning papers. first, bill karins who will not make your life easier because he has a check on the forecast. >> typically, march you expect a couple of winter like days but rewarded with a nice beautiful sunny day here and there and it's mild. we can't find it and might be until april. no warm-up in sight and everywhere in the blue and purple and white has windchills below 32, literally half the country this morning is still feeling below freezing as you step out the door. snow overnight in cape cod and enough they are out there plowing this morning and numerous lake bands of snow from rochester, new york and cleveland and snow in southern
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missouri and cold rain for arkansas, northern mississippi and alabama and now sliding into atlanta. as advertised, the next snowstorm on the way saturday night into denver. sunday during the day for kansas city and st. louis. sunday night as we go throughout the appalachians. it doesn't look right now this is a big deal of snow for d.c. and baltimore and new york city but from the ohio valley through interstate 70 through kansas city and denver this looks like enough snow we have to plow and shovel in this areas. this is crazy. a snowstorm this large this time of the year. your forecast today have the umbrella with you in atlanta and the southeast. it's going to be cold and chilly in the northeast but at least the snow is ending. just, once again, after this next storm, no big warm-up in sight. i'm waiting for april, it looks like along with everybody else. you're watching "morning joe," brewed by starbucks. ♪ [ female announcer ] it balances you...
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my goodness. i feel like it's the 11:00 newscast. >> no. >> this is eyewitness news nightbeat. >> eyewitness news nightbeat? >> di that show in hartford, connecticut, for six years. take a look at the morning papers. start with our parade of papers. the "chicago tribune." chicago marry rahm emmanuel has identified 61 public school buildings including over 50 elementary schools to close by the end of the school year. the move impacts 30,000 students, almost all in kindergarten through eighth grade. city officials project 1 billion dollar deficit next year. the closures will save chicago
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$560 million the next decade. >> whether you do this, mike, in chamucla, florida, or chicago, illinois, this is always excruciating tough for parents and kids, but you got to do it if you're going to keep the budget. >> you have to do it to same some semblance of sanity for a big city like that but you get into where are the displaced kids going to go to schools when the schools are closed? are they going to be bussed? most parents would like their kids to go to a neighborhood school and what happens then? that a huge burden for the mayor now. >> totally. sequestration is complicating it even more. we just did a report that head start across the country is facing these exact challenges and cutting school days and not accepting kids and randomly dropping kids from the program and a disadvantage for kids in that economic status. >> you look at the regional and
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local papers across the country you see endless stories like this. you look at the national programs and turn on the tv news and where is the white house tour? who is going to roll the easter eggs on the white house lawn. a whole series of effects fighting right now that the people aren't paying attention to. >> got to be kalve. you can't let kids go take towards the white house or roll easter eggs because mike, of course, the gitmo prisoners. >> stop it. >> the alleged terrorists, they need this $10 million building for their attorneys to sit back in. >> those renovations will be concluded probably by next easter. >> by next easter? >> yeah, so the kids can come back for easter egg hunt next year but not this year. >> maybe send them post cards of the 10 million dollar facility at gitmo and say we know you didn't get to roll the easter egg this year but here are our construction plans for the 10 million dollar alleged terrorist
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building. >> they were going to take the prisoners from gitmo while the place was being renovated and move them to the ocean reef club on the florida coast. >> you know it would be cheaper probably. >> probably. >> is it like a million dollars? i almost said a customer. a million dollars per person if you are in that gitmo facility. >> yeah. >> we don't things logically, i don't feel like. >> no, we do. the "los angeles times." >> mike huckabee went down there in the last presidential campaign. i'm sorry. >> she's bored! >> huckabee left and he goes, you know, this prison looks a lot nicer than the prisons in arkansas! i think he was right. >> a lot nicer than the places the prisoners came from. >> yeah. >> okay. >> what is out there? >> you all feel good now? >> go ahead. the "los angeles times" american airlines roll out passengers who do not use overhead bins to board their flights early in several cities. 2008 study found every minute
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cut from airline boarding can save $30 per flight and add up for american airlines which has on average 3,400 flights a day. star ledger. police investigating a crash of a car driving in front of the front of a new jersey 7-eleven. according to the store's manager, it's the sixth time a vehicle has driven through the store front of this particular 7-elev 7-eleven! >> do you think a sign where the location is bad. >> you hope it's not the same guy. >> you hope not. >> this is on the front page? seriously? >> i shouldn't be pointing this out. it's willie! >> in this case, the driver says he accidentally hit the accelerator instead of the brakes no one was hurt in the crash. >> "the boston globe." bed bath and beyond is sued by a massachusetts woman for sending unwanted junk mail or as some of us see them very useful 20% off
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coupons. i know someone who likes coupons. she amounts the damage to be in excess of $5 million. >> stop it! >> please! >> paper cuts? >> i hate that junk mail. >> i know but -- >> they take your address when you're buying something. i don't want to give my address. i don't want to give my e-mail and i don't. don't give your address. they take it from your credit card. >> come on. $5 million? stop. >> stop being so litigation free in this country. unless i'm your lawyer, stop being so litigation happy. montana state senate has approved a measure to allow individuals to salvage road kill! >> mika! >> to use as food! your mother was ahead of her time! >> yes, she is. >> mrs. brzezinski would pick up random deers dead on the side of the road and serve them to dinner guests. >> stop! >> she announced to pamela, i
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don't have a caterer. i found this deer on the side of the road. pamela spit it out. "the washington post" wrote a section in the style section, bambi comes to dinner. >>. then the deer looked up, you know, this bill would help people remove deer, elk and other carcass across the roadways and what mrs. brzezinski said. do not throw away good -- 33-15 vote with one state senator gifg giving it, quote, it really is a sin to waste a good meat. >> oh, my gosh! >> that is exactly what your mother said. >> what is going on here? is this for real? >> what your mother told pamela heraman. mika wrote this in her book. >> she is mad at me. she is tired of the story. it is a good story. who serves road kill? seriously? who does that? >> a real immigrant that went
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through the depression and went through world war ii. >> she is fantastic. >> she escaped with her family to england. >> yeah. >> she then had to go out to the countryside and insilived on ve little and came across to america. her ship got hit by a torpedo. it was a dud, thank god. she got here and she worked hard and she got ahead and those are the type of people who don't waste good meat on the side of the road. >> thank you. that's right. >> by the way, it was very good, i hear. >> it was delicious. >> pamela spit it out because she was living with winston churchill while your mother was going across the water during world war ii. >> she would say that she is tired of the story. and she probably would like me to point out she is a sculptor. >> on sunday's "parade."
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country star brad paisley on romance, race, and religion. >> you've been waiting for that a long time, sam stein. congratulations. >> who? >> coming up a number one seed is almost knocked off by a 16 and big win for harvard. >> harvard! >> full highlights of round two of the ncaa tournament next in sports. ♪ acne cleansers may be tough on breakouts, but how good are they for the rest of your face? [ female announcer ] new neutrogena® naturals acne cream cleanser with acne-fighting medicine from the wintergreen leaf. this effective cleanser cleans into pores. treats and helps prevent future breakouts. without dyes, parabens, or harsh sulfates. for clear healthy skin. naturally clear skin has never felt so beautiful. [ female announcer ] new acne cream cleanser.
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welcome back to "morning joe." bill karins is here for a look at sports. a good day yesterday. >> it wasn't great but it was good and especially we got a little treat late at night. a couple of teams may have made a mess of your brackets yesterday. start in the west. 14th seed harvard have never won a tourney game taking on the three seed new mexico. corner three. >> boom! >> that gives harvard the lead. two minutes to play. jumpers from chambers and gets harvard eight-point lead and sinncinderella is partying. third seed and my final four pick, new mexico. >> you had them in the final
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four? >> who else would would i pick? >> they will take on number sixth seed arizona tomorrow. >> who is the coach at harvard? >> damaker. >> he will not be there for long. >> this is his third year there, i believe. he turned a program -- just an ivy league program into a real sort of semipausemipower house. >> amazing what he did. 12th seeded cal taking on number five unlv in san jose. thurman throws down the slam. lead to eight but unlv not done and stage a comeback. three from the side from anthony bennett and lays it there in for the missed read. rebels down by three. only 15 seconds to go.
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any christian laettner duke moment? no. cal bears win 64-61. they have a date with number four syracuse who won by like 50 last night. >> is syracuse still playing basketball at the end of the tournament? >> if you listen to boeheim, business as usual. ignore the scandal. oregon deserves a much higher seed and facing oklahoma state. all ducks. emery takes the feed buries the three and they roll 68-55. tough shot there for oklahoma state. first tournament win since 2007. the ducks have their hands full when they face fourth seeded st. louis tomorrow. butler, vcu and st. louis looking tough. now the game that teased us. gonzaga taking on 16 seed. never before a 16 seed beat a one seed. game tied. eric beltran was money at the
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end of the game. gut check time. under 4:00 to go. bell nails the three. gonzaga got all they could handle and win 64-58 and date with number nine seed wichita state tomorrow. the buzzer beater of the day. marquette taking on dafevidson. davidson had the game. marquette cuts it to one. you get fouled. no. you just got to foul the line and go to the line to shoot the shot! they throw the ball out of bounds! now they are they are not trying to save the game but hold on for dear life because marquette has a ball back with a chance to win. here is iron eagle with the call. >> here we go. five seconds left. marquette down by one. trying to blow the upset. the drive with the left hand. it's good! one second to play! >> that it is it. davidson played so well the entire game.
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marquette scores ten points the last minute. >> how do you not block the lane? how do you give him a layup with five seconds left? >> how do you throw the ball out of bounds? >> davidson best foul shooting team in the entire country. >> just hold on to the ball! >> i know. it was sad. >> gave him a layup. >> the president filled out his bracket as we showed you. good thing he is over in the middle east because he didn't so well yesterday. >> really? >> he had ten right and six wrong. >> is that bad? >> yeah. he got missouri, oklahoma state and he falls in the 27th percentile. he still has his final four and barnicle still has. >> the president is a strong finisher. >> you like florida? >> you're big on the game? >> what is your final four? >> what is my bracket? >> i think -- i think they should harvard. >> no. what is it? >> harvard in the final four which is genius and cal and oregon. >> see? i love the bears!
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still ahead on "morning joe," the disappearing american dream. why the next generation might be worse off financially than their parents and what they can do about it. what? might? will. we will talk to jean chatzky about a surprising new study. first, the must read opinion pages. [ female announcer ] going to sleep may be easy, but when you wake up
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intermezzo should not be taken if you have taken another sleep medicine at bedtime or in the middle of the night or drank alcohol that day. do not drive or operate machinery until at least 4 hours after taking intermezzo and you're fully awake. driving, eating, or engaging in other activities while not fully awake without remembering the event the next day have been reported. abnormal behaviors may include aggressiveness, agitation, hallucinations, or confusion. alcohol or taking other medicines that make you sleepy may increase these risks. in depressed patients, worsening of depression, including risk of suicide, may occur. intermezzo, like most sleep medicines, has some risk of dependency. common side effects are headache, nausea, and fatigue. so if you suffer from middle-of-the-night insomnia, ask your doctor about intermezzo and return to sleep again. ♪ [ male announcer ] were you more interesting in your twenties, or now?
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when you were starting out? or after a few decades working in some well-worn character? experience makes you wiser for the wear. and now come the richer possibilities. [ children laughing ] aarp. an ally for real possibilities. find tools and resources at aarp.org/possibilities. ♪ don't want to discuss it i think it's time for a change ♪ ♪ >> all right. 46 past the hour. time for the must read opinion pages. i'm going to read from josh has a breaking story from bloomberg business week today. yeah. kind of breaking. you broke the story. it's one of the great untold stories from bloomberg business week of the 2012 presidential
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campaign. a tale of ego and intrigue that nearly up-ended the republican primary might even have produced a different nominee. as mitt romney struggled in the weeks leading up to the michigan primary, newt gingrich and rick santorum nearly agreed to form a joint unity ticket to consolidate conservative support and topple romney. we were close, former representative bob walker, a grich ally says. grich a gingrich and an toreum couldn't agree. in the end gingrich told me too hard to negotiate. so much going on there! where do i start? >> like i said this is one of the great untold stories.
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>> that is hilarious. >> how would that have worked? i'm curious. >> it didn't! >> i'm asking this question seriously because -- >> that is the point. >> because back in 2008, the reason why mike huckabee got beaten by john mccain is because fred thompson and john mccain struck this same deal and made the difference in south carolina. how is this going to work? >> first important to situate ourselves to february when this happened in the gop primary. romney was really struggling and clear he had a tough time winning his home state. there was emerging anybody but romney movement. these guys thought if we can team up and get together it might be enough to knock him off. i remember thinking as a reporter if romney loses michigan it is all going to fall apart and this race would completely unwind for him. the way it was going to work, you join forces. one person is president and one person is vp. you lock it up right then.
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you create this wave of excitement that proponents thought would encourage conservati conservative activists out there. >> men are so funny. let me get another one going. do we have a new quinnipiac poll out? >> just now. >> overwhelming support for spank expanding the nation's law among background checks. 88% are now in favor of useful background checks and among gun owners nearly identical. 85% supported background checks. >> let's hold that up there. hold it up there right there. because you have certain gun groups that claim to speak for all gun owners. >> they just don't. >> that they are standing up and
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trying to protect the second amendment against -- against these false -- and make false claims. they set up strawman and knock them down. mike, look at that. 85% of gun owners in america, 85% of gun owners in america support criminal and mental background checks. they support keeping guns out of the hands of convicted rapists, keeping the guns out of the hands of convicted batterers and keeping the guns out of the hands of people that have already committed violent crimes. 85% support criminal and mental background checks. do we really believe republicans in the senate are going to oppose that? who could? >> they ought not to oppose it but wayne la pierre is an embarrassment to legitimate law
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asiding gun owners. >> already supported background checks. >> wayne lapierre greed with that back in the 1990s. he was one of 85% in the 1990s until, i guess the gun manufacturers told him to change his position. >> right. >> okay. >> right. now he parades around with this clown show literally say if they take the rapist gun from the rapist, they will come after your gun. >> if we scream rapists from getting guns and doing a background check to see if they have been a rapist or felon, we are somehow violating other americans' rights? that's just a lie. >> here is eugene robinson what he writes in "the washington pos post". the worst way to respond to the shocking massacre in newtown, connecticut, would be to let political self-interests stand in the way of meaningful action. the parents of those 20 slain
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children deserve a vote on the assault weapons ban. the families of 30,000 americans who will be killed by gunfire this year deserve a vote. bringing the measure to the floor of both the senate and the house is the least congress can do. we all know what is happening here. senate democrats face a tough battle next year to hold on their slim majority. the isn't plilt, it's moral. the answer this is a moment not to do the expedient thing but do the right thing. >> they will get a vote on the assault weapons ban but vote as an amendment and where the problem is. if you don't put it in the base bill it decreases the chan of passage but i creases the chance of the base bill passage. >> this is, i think, a long-term proposition. the last thing i would want to see is the possibility of passing a background check on criminals and those who are
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mentally disturbed. i would not want to lose that for an assault weapon ban that we all know right now is not going to pass. >> those votes are a marker too. it shows how far we have to go to get to the next step. >> josh green, thank you. great job. >> thanks. still ahead, rnc chairman reince pri reince priebus joins "uss straight -- us straight ahead. we will be right back. straight - us straight ahead. we will be right back. -- us straight ahead. we will be right back. us straigt ahead. we will be right back. come on, nowadays lots of people go by themselves. no they don't. hey son. have fun tonight. ♪
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coming up next, dr. brzezinski and senator chris coons will be us and "fortune" leigh gal a ger wilagher will b on the set.
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state in their home land, palestinians have a right to be a free people in their own land. i'm going off script a little bit. before i came here i met with a group of young palestinians from the age of 15 to 22. and talking to them, they weren't that different from my daughters. they weren't that different from your daughters. or sons. i honestly believe that if any israeli parent sat down with those kids, they would say, i want these kids to succeed. i want them to prosper. i want them to have opportunities just like my kids do. i believe that's what israeli parents would want for these
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kids if they had a chance to listen to them and talk to them. i believe that. top of the hour. welcome back to "morning joe." look at that shot of new york city. mike barnicle and sam stein are still bus. joining from washington, former national security adviser to president carter and author of "strategic vision america and the crisis of global power," dr. zbigniew brzezinski, hi, dad. and the moderator of "meet the press," david gregory and "fortune" managing editor leigh gallagher. good to have you with us. >> what was your take on the president's day in israel, dr. brzezinski? >> i think a great performance of principles and warm equipment to israel and appeal to the young people who will not be
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making policy for about 20 more years. on that level, it was pretty good. i think a lot depends also however on what he says privately and that is the missing part, because we don't know what he says privately, but i do have the feeling that there are some things he should be saying privately and perhaps we can get into that. >> what should he be saying privately? >> don't go there right now. >> is there no time like the present, dr. brzezinski. what should he be talking about privately? >> i think privately he should say to prime minister netanyahu, who no longer has obedient, compliant right wing government, but a government composed of people who can also assert themselves, that the prime minister has to understand that our commitment to israel is unshakeable and uncomprehensive and based on the moral principles and why we are committed to israel, but, at the same time, the united states has a right to spp reciprocity that
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is to say we are funding israel and helping it militarily and israel has to understand the united states has some overriding interests in the middle east which are not exclusive to israel. and, therefore, the united states interests have to be taken into account and the most important one, in my view at the present moment, is that we do not get into another middle eastern war which will quickly become a regional war. i have in mind no repetition of iraq, next year or sooner, in iran. the war in iraq cost u.s. $3 trillion and 35,000 casualties. we can't afford that again and i think the israelis have to understand this. >> david gregory, so many people thought the president was going over to discuss iran and, obviously, what the israelis are most concerned about right now. but the president did move towards the peace process, talking about getting it
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restarted. what was your impression of the president's performance yesterday? >> well, he agree with dr. brzezinski about a statement of principles. it was very important and the president felt it was important for him top politically and restate for the region and the israeli public that this is an unshakeable alliance. certainly the decisions he has made as president have underscored that. and that really shouldn't have been in much doubt. but i think reaching out to younger people to say, look, especially this passover approaches, remember that you, too, were once strangers and you were once slaves in the land of egypt, the central message of passover is one he was saying, look at this through their eyes. they deserve a state and they have some claim to the land. of course, it's not so much that israelis and palestinians can't understand each other as people. it has a lot to do with the politics on israeli side and the shattered politics on the palestinian side as well that
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has created what dennis ross, former peace maker in that process under president clinton has called this feeling of disbelief on both sides. so i'm still not convinced yet, joe, that this administration wants to go into laborious detail when it comes to trying to broker a peace agreement, particularly because of the threat that iran poses because of whatever the end game is in syria. those concerns may overwhelm. >> let's go to senator coons on syria. just curious in terms of, obviously, the topic of chemical weapons is being raised now as a possibility. the president has called that a game changer. some would say that 70,000 people dead might be that as well. are we talking now about the inevitably come action here, collective or singular? >> yes, mika. i think it's important that the american people be aware that circumstances on the ground in syria continue to change in ways that will move us closer and closer to some sort of
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multilateral action, particularly if there is a confirmation that the assad regime in syria has used chemical weapons in violation of international law and basic humanitarian rights. i think it was vital that president obama went to israel at this critical moment. it was a great speech and reaffirmation of a fundamental relationship in particular that he recognized that israel is a jewish home land and a right to exist and self-defense in face of both a iranian nuclear weapons program. it is a very unstable situation in syria and in the region. this was a vital important moment for president obama, both to reassure the israeli people that we are their most vital ally, that we have an unshakeable relationship but also to urge forward a peace process that could help stabilize the region. >> dr. brzezinski, off of what senator coons just said, we have this decades old issue of trying to come up with a peace
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settlement within israel. yet, right now, the area, the fuses around israel so volatile and fast burning. syria, jordan, iran, egypt. talk about the degree of difficulty at this moment of trying to put a peace package together within israel. >> you know, the difficulty is that when there is no unrest and danger on the outside, there is no sense of urgency that peace is needed. when there is unrest and danger outside, the argument is peace is premature. so, in the end, you end up with no peace. what you have to ask one's self is this -- will israel endure if the united states is driven out of that region? will israel endure if the region becomes really radicalized, extremists and perhaps better armed over time? and this is where reciprocal interests come into play.
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we have the moral and geo political stake in israel and supporting it to the hilt. the israelis have to realize our position in the middle east depends on our ability to deal with the problem effectively and not bogged down in wars that exhaust us and then turn our public into kind of isolationist mood and becomes unwilling even to respond to challenges. and that is the long risk. so we have to strike a bargain here. and i think the key issue right now is syria as the senator said, but beyond that it is also iran. i am very concerned that we do not stuvenl into a position in which you are obligated to start a war the way we started one with iraq and come alone in it entirely and have no allies and pay huge enormous price for it. to israel's detriment in the long run. >> i was just going to say, i mean, i agree with your father,
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mika. i think this is one of the big questions. when the president said yesterday that to syria the whole world is watching and you'll be held accountable. the senator just mentioned a multilateral action. who is part of that action exactly? because this was the framing before iraq as well. and here you have the kind of sectarian conflict that's possible, it already exists in syria and could grow so much worse and only as to him friedman and others had pointed out when we were all in on iraq, when we were willing to throw ourselves on the grenade and gotten iraq to this point which still has an uncertain future. i have a question what that multilateral action looks like. who else is involved? >> good question. >> go ahead, leigh. >> dr. brzezinski, you know, david mentioned yesterday the president addressed a crowd largely of youth. to what degree might there be some hope that the younger
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generation might be a little less hardened than its elders and a little less skeptical of the peace process? is there anything to be taken from the new generation in israel? >> i agree with you entirely. i think very good exercise. it's an investment in the future, but, at the same time, we have to be realistic. the young people who are there and who applauded ally will not be shaping foreign policy and we have to deal with the government that exists. it's a coalition government of really intense contradictions and we, therefore, have to be very clear in asserting what we consider to be the vital interests of the united states which are automatically good for israel. because if the united states is healthy and strong and predominant in the region, israel is totally secure. let's not forget, sdentally something very important which the press hasn't played up at all in recent months but yet it is a very telling fact.
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israel and the united states tend to be almost completely isolated in the middle east. not only in terms of the middle eastern countries but in terms of world opinion. look at the vote in the u.n. when we made every single effort possible to discourage countries from voting in favor of palestinian membership in the u.n. how many votes out of 190, out of 190 did we get? we found only seven countries to support us. this tells us something. and, therefore, we have to be very, very clear inning on ourselves what are our interests, how do we promote them? and we make it clear to the israelis on decisions of war and peace that involve us, namely, particularly in regards to iran, we are the ones who make the decisions. >> senator coons, a fairly interesting appearing yesterday of two united states senators, john mccain and carl levin of michigan in urging the administration to consider
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tougher steps with regard to syria. and when you hear repeatedly the phrase about chemical weapons perhaps being used in syria, the shadow of iraq seems to come back to many people. weapons of mass destruction. what is your sense within the united states senate right now about that shadow that got us into iraq lurking over any potential strategy or action within syria? >> mike, i think other senators with whom i talked, other members of the foreign relations committee who served in the senate during the decision to go to war in iraq are mindful of the huge costs both in blood and treasure that the misguided effort in iraq the way we got in and the duration of it a and the cost and difficulty of it was significantly different from what the senators who voted to go to war in iraq had been presented. i think that does hover over these conversations and i think it partly explains why we have
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in providing humanitarian support or some tact kag support on the ground for the free syrian rebels and the syrian opposition council which the united states has lent a lot of diplomatic support to and we recognize as the legitimate representative of the syrian people. we have invested a lot of time and effort and resources in the country as diplomatic effort and humanitarian support. more to get engaged in part because of the ghost of iraq and in part because the american people are tired of the cost and difficulty of war. we still have more than 66,000 troops actively engaged in fighting in afghanistan. we haven't yet resolved that of longest and most expensive of the two wars in southwest asia we have been fighting. i think a real hess tansitancy. there is a moral challenge to support our allies in europe and the region in recognizing that just as the collapse of
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gadhafi's libya and unsecured reps from libya led to all sorts of problems in the region not least of which was mali the weapons in syria are a level that far goes beyond anything in libya. this really will have terrible regional consequences. >> given what the senator has just said, dad, before we move to guns, what do you think the best next step forward is with syria? >> first of all, i'm a little baffled by our recent decision to give money to the rebels but refuse to give them arms on the grounds we don't know who they are, they are not reliable. because if we give them money but not arms, they will use the money to buy arms. so what are we accomplishing if, we, in fact, don't know who is, so to speak, on our side. beyond that, i think frankly. i think the problem of syria is susceptible to an international
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resolution, provided we are able to engage both russia and china in a serious dialogue and we leave some room for iranian role as well because iran is a neighbor. i think that attempt is perhaps more likely to produce a productive outcome than plunging into a conflict which as the senator said very well, can have regional implications and become not an imitation of what happened in iraq, but something even worse than what happened in iraq. >> according to a new quinnipiac poll out this morning shows an overwhelming number of americans are in favor of universal background checks for gun buyers. 88% support. 10 oppose. even more telling. i look forward to watching "meet the press" this weekend to see what type of backtracking is done here. among gun owners, the number is nearly identical. 85% of americans support wayne
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lapierre position on doing criminal and mental health background checks at least the position he held a decade ago. >> right. >> 85% of americans support running background checks on people with criminal and mental health issues and others. what do you expect to hear from wayne lapierre this weekend and mike bloomberg? >> i think the mayor of new york a real question when the president said he would use all of the power of the presidency to get gun control essentially what has happened. the people in strong gun rights state you have to do this and rise up or else it's not going to happen. they haven't. we are seeing that in the united states senate. but i think on background checks where you point to the polls, a lot of support. look.
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the main argument against this from gun rights supporters is, well, if you do this it's a slippery slope to creating some federal registry. federally licensed companies, like dick's sporting good they do a background check and keep a piece of paper and put that paper in a binder and keep it. it's not part of a database so there is no registry now. how do you go from there to the fear if you try to close this loophole where 40% of purchases are made without any record at all or background check, that somehow the flood gates are open and, all of a sudden, the registry is created. so that's the issue. yes, as you see there, senator reid will make this a part of the base bill but still real questions about whether this has support. >> the arguments are just ridiculous, talking about, oh, well, if we actually do
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background checks on rapists and convicted felons and we do background checks on people who are mentally ill that that is going to infrinenfringe on othe second amendment rights. one red herring after another is created every day by people that are defending the indefensible. senator, will you be supporting a background checks for criminals and the mentally ill? >> absolutely. i think it is absolutely vital that we get through the senate of the united states, laws that will strengthen the protections against criminals, those mentally ill and those convicted of domestic violence and both that strengthens gun trafficking consequences and by passing universal criminal background checks. both of these, i think, can and should get through the senate and the house and of the roughly
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32 americans today killed in gun violence by guns. it was my hope that we would have a far more -- what most gun rights advocates have contacted my office don't realize current laws at the state and national level are swiss cheese when it comes to background checks and gun trafficking. we can't let the perfect be the enemy of the good. if we can pass those we can make a real difference. >> no doubt about it. what stood out to me about this debate is background checks are the, obviously, the logical legislator response but the ban on high capacity magazine strikes me as well. i'm not sure if i've heard a
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persuasive argument about banning the high capacity -- >> it's the same with assault weapons. you ask why they can't be banned and a semantics argument assault weapons ban inside 1933. what do you want to call it? semiautomatic? now you want to come after my handgun some they talk around in circles like thaerve everybody debating them are idiots. we are trying to keep guns out of the hands of rape it's and trying to keep guns out of the people of who committed murder and out of the mentally ill. this will lead to a national registration system. david gregory said we have background checks for 50% of the guns already. 30, 40. there's no national registration. >> strikes me we have had two or three instances in which people have gone 30 rounds of shots without having to load. >> all of these things will pass
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in time. all of them will pass in time. yes, david? >> but isn't part of the problem that gun control advocates are not winning these arguments on merits in the way that can move the dialogue. one thing to assert it's a mat of common sense that you don't need what are called assault rifles but something else to point to tangible evidence that the assault weapons ban accomplished the goal. >> define winning. you got 90% of americans supporting the position that we should have background checks against criminals, against rapists and murderers and against the mentally ill and 85% of people who own guns supporting the proposition that you should have background checks on rapists and on murderers and on people that are convicted on criminals, on mental -- and you can even look at assault weapon bans and look
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at the eye capacity magazines. no. the people that want sensible gun regulation are winning the day, david. it's just some republicans and some democrats in a tiny little bubble in washington, d.c. that don't sense the tidal wave that is coming to sweep them all away if they keep fighting this. >> we will have to see if that happens because i think they sense the opposite that doing this is only going to hurt and maybe the argument is for momentum in states in colorado who passed the magazine and background checks. i do think this issue is part of the problem, as well as this question -- i mean, i think a question for the senator as well. this is the argument that gun rights folks make, which is why even on the background checks, why not go after more of these violations of the background check when there are so few prosecutions of these kind of cases? >> that's a great question and i
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do think that it falls on us to enassure that we are funding and supporting vigorous enforcement of the laws already in place and that we pass the laws we have been talking about that would help make sure universal criminal background checks and universal bans on gun trafficking, if we can get those two things done and then enforce them more effectively and more adequately i think we would make a real difference. >> if you do three things. three things that don't touch the high capacity magazines, three things that don't even approach assault weapons. if you enforce the existing laws on the book, on the books. you enforce them aggressively. number one is so critical as the senator said. number two, if you pass really tough gun trafficking laws and let people know if they set up strawman purchases they are going to jail for 20 years. it does not pay to do other people's biddingings and that will help a lot in the gun type of violence spreading across the country. third, universal background
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checks for criminals and for the mentally ill. you do those three things and enforce them aggressively things will go well. one quick final question of dr. brzezinski. changing the subject very quickly here at the end. the "the washington post" has written a story how the banking crisis in tiny little cyprus is actually causing a crisis of legitimacy to the european union because cyprus has told them, thanks but not thanks, let the russians bail us out. >> i think the political leadership defines its as european so that increasingly a public commitment will not only be to their own individual nation state, but also to the larger concept of europe and, therefore, of the west and what
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it represents. unfortunately, we have had in the past political leaders who stood up for europe and launched the idea of europe. lately the political leaders in europe have become nationalistic and domestic oriented and hence, the whole enterprise has become a little uncertain. europe has become the europe of banks, but not a europe of peoples. it has to be a europe of peoples and that means the leaderships of the different european states have to be increasingly affirmative in proclaiming their concept of duel identity. national, yes, but european and if i ha philosophical moral sense. in the concept of cyprus it is a pseudocountry which become international bank for variety of operations of some dubious character. and i have to say i don't examine the eu to be bailing out
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cyprus for the kind of banking practices that cyprus has been pursuing to some extent in collusion with russia. >> this show is big in cyprus. >> pseudocountry with a dubious leader. >> i'm going there this weekend, in fact and do a book signing and have some goat meat. >> never disappoint dad. thank you so much, dad. >> senator coons, thank you so much. david gregory. >> my lordy. >> this weekend, this is going to be good. >> mayor bloomberg, wayne lapierre. a big week where personal freedom is part of our political debate. talk about guns and gay marriage and cover it all. >> any arm wrestling going on there? >> stop. >> thank you, david. see you sunday. still ahead on "morning joe" the quiet heroes of the white house. why our forgotten presidents are also our most important.
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talk to the author of that new book and up next, rnc chairman reince priebus joins the conversation. you're watching "morning joe." brewed by starbucks. [ kitt ] you know what's impressive? a talking car. but i'll tell you what impresses me. a talking train. this ge locomotive can tell you exactly where it is, what it's carrying, while using less fuel. delivering whatever the world needs, when it needs it. ♪ after all, what's the point of talking if you don't have something important to say? ♪
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♪ welcome back to "morning joe." live look at the capitol. joining us from capitol hill, rnc chairman reince priebus. good to have you on the show. >> thank you, mika. happy to be here. >> nothing going on this week, nothing at all. >> no. >> you actually did bring up the fact that the gop might need to change its ways just a little bit. >> yeah. >> i think a lot of people who agree with out that in terms of trying to be a party that wins again. what do you think the most important thing to do in the gop's rebranding effort, if that is a word that still applies, is rebranding fair? >> yeah, i think that is really fair. i think branding, marketing,
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telling the story and the history of the republican party, but, mika, you asked like the most important thing from my perspective is a couple of things. one, i think mechanically we have to be a permanent campaign and let me explain for a second what i mean by that. as a campaign committee, we -- the romney campaign did actually break records when it comes to voter contacts, doors, phones. the problem is we have been comparing ourselves to ourselves and what the other side is doing, mika, is that by the hundreds of people across the country in communities right now with clipboards and knocking on doors and gathering data and put it into a simple data platform. they have what i consider to be much more deep, genuine, long-term relationships in communities across america. the second thing is, you know, it's tone as well. it's not necessarily what you say but it's how you say it and if you go around and you say a
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lot of stupid things and you poison the well and you create a caricature or you allow a caricature to become relate, i think it hurts your ability to win an election. >> how is this being received within the party? because, obviously, i've read the headlines and some that don't take too kindly to what you're saying. yet, it does make a lot of sense. >> well, you're not going to have total unity. 219 recommendations and not everybody agrees with it. i think for the most part we should break a few pieces of china to get some things straight. one is our tone, our mechanics. who disagrees that our digital data needs to be updated and quite frankly, i don't think having our candidates running around in a traveling circus running and doing 23 debates slicing and dicing each other is in the best interests of our party. i just find that to be
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ridiculous and we're going to try to do something about it. >> joe scarborough here. ask you about michael steele in a minute. he is challenging you to a steel cage match. i think if you all wear the right super hero outfits i think that will be exciting. you talk about tone and i've been talking about it for years. we get in our way so much. you can be on the mcdonald's and serve the best french fries in the world but if you throw french fries at your customer and scream, they will go to burger king, that simple. we seem to have been going out of our ways at times to offend swing voters. now you've seen it inside our party over the past several months, we have had these purity contests. it's lk like a political version of the salem witch trials. chris christie is not conservative enough, he is a
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rhino. bob mcdonald is not conservative enough because he was concerned about gridlock in northern virginia that even the national review was condemning. he is not conservative enough. how do we take control as a party and make sure that those voices are the voices of the minority and we embrace a bigger tent? >> you've got to make reagan's 8020 rule cool again and my 80% friend is not my 20% enemy and we will not grow our party by division and subtraction. there is a difference. if people want to talk about policy positions all the time. but look at what has happened all through the midwest. i'm from wisconsin. you've got republican governors on the same positions winning everywhere and legislatures are controlled by republicans across the country. you come into a presidential election with a massive turnout, a lot of idiotic things said and really i think a party -- >> a lot of idiotic things said,
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you're exactly right. >> and you've got a party that hasn't been deep enough in the communities on a permanent basis so you can't really play an authentic game of defense when something is said because if your relationships aren't authentic enough in those communities, you can't undo the dabbling of an unscripted moment like, you know, self-deportation or something like that. i mean, the fact is we have to just face reality. we are in a permanent campaign and we have been running five-month operations. so our commitment is to hire hundreds of people across america even in a nonpresidential year and we are going toed it in an unprecedented way and see what happens. we will go to historically black colleges and universities and go to places and talk about our parties and the things we believe in. >> this is sam stein. on the issue of inconclusivity. what would you tell an independent minded gay man who believes the right to marry is a
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civil right? what would you tell him about why he should vote republican? >> i would tell him, look. we might not agree on every single issue but, for the most part, if you look at where we are at in our economy and look at where we are with educational choice and our military positions and positions on a strong defense in our party for the most part, we agree on almost everyone and doesn't make someone a bad republican. it means we are good republicans and disagree on one or two things. my god. i don't agree with my wife on 100% of the issues but it doesn't mean we don't have a great marriage. i don't see how that is not -- that's not a reasonable position for people to take. i think it's entirely consistent. i think it's a human position to take and i think it's a decent position to take. >> mr. chairman, quickly. this is rich lawrie's column and he was writing this for politico. he said so much depends on the substance. no rebranding is going to make a difference if republican policy
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is not relevant to people's lives but the party desperately needs more than different marketing. our new political consultants are a few jack kerves and willing to ignore other drthodo we have to get out of this echo chamber, right? sometimes we can have different positions on background checks. we can have different positions on immigration and we can have different positions on drone policy, but we have got to break apart this echo chamber that says we almost think aloik, we almost talk alike and we almost address alike. >> we have to stand up for each other too. you stand up for rand paul when he stands up on the floor and he asks a reasonable question to the president and he puts his foot down and you stand up for him. i was asked at the national press club is the national party
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going to cut off funding from rob portman? of course, not. he is a good republican leader. you build a team and you have some unity on the team as opposed to slicing each other. the fact is we're a great party. we're a party of freedom, liberty, opportunity. we have got to tell our story across america and stand up for each other and build. that is the only way we are going to get competitive in presidential elections. >> how many rounds does michael steele last with you in the steel cage? final question. >> i did meet with linda mcmahon yesterday. >> is she going to train you? >> reince priebus, thank you so much. coming up could we see the end of retirement? why the next generation could be working for a very long time. jean chatzky will be here to explain. more "morning joe" when we come back.
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♪ ♪ no two people have the same financial goals. pnc works with you to understand yours and help plan for your retirement. visit a branch or call now for your personal retirement review.
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the next story for the next
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this is nature valley. nature at its most delicious. ♪ all right. the sun is up. you better be up out of bed and getting ready to go to work. here with us is finance editor for today and personal finance guru, jean chatzky. >> such a funny word. >> you're too pretty to be a guru. our kids can really, that's it. it's over? >> it's a problem for our kids. >> they will work forever. >> the people who are under 40 it's looking like according to some research from the urban student that they are falling behind where their parents were at their age. >> two things going badly for them the real wages keep going
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down and washington is stealing from them. they are going to be paying higher tax rates because washington is not taking care of long-term debt. >> they also suffered through the housing crisis and they have got mountains of student loan debt that they are really forced to recover from for many, many years. and it delays their transition into real adulthood. >> we don't talk about that enough. >> student debt is the only kind of debt that grew during the recession. student debt is monstrous. it's a threat to our entire economy. >> you talk about the next big bubble bursting? >> it's huge. huge. >> student debt will be a crisis. >> i have another question and maybe for my own kind of personal experience. when i turned 21 and got my first job my mother drilled in to me pay yourself first. she made me ready "the wealthy barber." >> great book. >> i wonder. this generation came of age when the era when credit was everywhere and flowing. people, i guess in this under 40
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generation might look at credit card different from their parents. what does that psyche play a role here? we think of nothing of charging. i moved to new york in my 20s and it was using the credit card left to right. >> i did too and i got in trouble and i had to come back from that amount of trouble. the younger people are actually doing fine when it comes to their credit card debt. they have pumped the brakes, i think, because of the student loan debt. where they are not able to deal is with saving and i think housing is a really big problem. if you look at that generation, if they are ten years behind where their parents were in buying that first house, that's equity that they are not going to accrue to the bottom line. many people think of a house as a liability. you know? they weigh the choice of renting versus buying and they forget that if you pay
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just not going to have that. >> if young people delay making those investments they won't reap the full benefits down the road. >> exactly. the later they wait the more they delay making those sorts of investments the more we worry about the fact that will they ever be able to catch up. >> and i mean they may not be able to cash in on fred thompson's reverse mortgage. >> my goodness. don't even get me started. >> what is this reverse mortgage stuff? >> reverse mortgages are very, very expensive. all of these advertisements out there do not tell you that to get into a reverse mortgage you are looking at least at $10,000 in fees and expenses. >> fred and robert wagner are lying to us? >> robert wagner is lying to you. it's a scam. i'm telling you. first natalie wood now this. you can't trust this man. >> a scam i think is a little
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harsh. >> why? >> there are some people for whom a reverse mortgage if you're sitting on a mountain of equity in your home you want to stay in that house forever and you have no other source of income, okay. then you look at a reverse mortgage. but you don't do it until you're well into your 60s or 70s because until then the payout is just too low. and you understand that the more you draw on the source of money, they can't kick you out of your house but you could end up with equity of zero at the end of the line and nothing to pass on to your kids. >> right. >> in response. it's a -- they -- >> first mortgages are for parents who hate their kids and you don't want to give them anything when they die. >> they are for people -- >> it's a good way to put it. if the parents are thinking about a reverse mortgage when they sign this -- >> you're a little tough. >> they have to be thinking screw the kids. they don't call. they don't write. i don't see the grand kids. i'm driving this baby straight down to the ground.
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>> a lot of people go into reverse mortgages because they think i have to hold on to this house for my kids. >> yeah. huge mistake. sell the house. move somewhere cheaper. take the cash. >> i have a question about kids. >> okay. >> and economic literature. >> i mean, in the sense when we were kids in the 1890s, whenever, you get a sense of what money was all about. your parents pay for things with cash. and now high school kids, whatever, kids younger than that, they don't know the meaning of money. everything is a swipe of a card. >> yes. no. they don't know the meaning of money. we have to have our kids working through high school and college because i got to tell you my kids now are 16 and 18. they did not truly learn the value of money until they started baby-sitting and realized, oh, that $10 is an hour of my time. they have to make the connection between working and having the money. if we give it to them, abe
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allowance is a great teaching tool but it doesn't serve the same purpose and same function that work does. >> the value. >> yes. >> the right investments. >> thank you. >> did you see this in "the post?" >> yeah. >> your son's documentary. >> my gosh. >> someone is going to invest $3 million for that card. >> honus williams baseball card three million bucks. >> jean, great to have you. >> thank you, jean. we appreciate that. >> i am told what i said was terrible and i should take it back whanchts did you say? >> too pretty to be -- >> if anybody tells me i'm pretty i'll take that. >> jean has no problem with it. still ahead on "morning joe" a fitting tribute to one of the greatest writers and producers of our generation and a friend. tom hanks makes his broadway debut and nora's final play "lucky guy." we'll talk to her son, jacob. bacon?! gotta get that bacon!
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coming up international issues storm back on to the president's agenda as new voices on capitol hill join the call for u.s. involvement in syria's civil war. can the killing stop without american intervention? >> plus, the president in israel. quite a speech. >> back in a moment. this is so sick!
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. given the ties between our countries, i believe your future is bound to ours. no, no. this is part of the lively debate that we talked about. this is good. i have to say we actually arranged for that because it made me feel at home.
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you know, i wouldn't feel comfortable if i didn't have at least one heckler. >> good morning. it's 8:00 on the east coast. 5:00 a.m. on the west coast. probably time to get up. take a live look at new york city. welcome back to "morning joe." back with us onset we have mike barnicle, sam stein, and josh greene. we'll start with the news. president obama as you saw wrapping up his visit to israel this morning before heading to neighboring jordan. today the president toured several important spots for the jewish people, including the thums of yitzak rabin and theodore hertzel as well as the memorial museum. it follows a trip to the west bank yesterday and a speech in jerusalem where he offered america's unflinching support to israel while calling for a renewed start to the middle east peace process. >> those who adhere to the ideology of rejecting israel's right to exist might as well reject the earth beneath them or the sky above, because israel's
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not going anywhere. so long as there is a united states of america -- [ speaking in other language ] -- you are not alone. the only way to truly protect the israeli people over the long term is through the absence of war, because no wall is high enough and no iron dome is strong enough or perfect enough to stop every enemy that is intent on doing so from inflicting harm. just as israelis built a state in their homeland, palestinians have a right to be a free people in their own land. i'm going off script here for a second, but before i came here, i met with a group of young palestinians from the age of 15
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to 22, and talking to them, they weren't that different from my daughters. they weren't that different from your daughters or sons. i honestly believe that if any israeli parent sat down with those kids they'd say, i want these kids to succeed. i want them to prosper. i want them to have opportunities just like my kids do. i believe that's what israeli parents would want for these kids if they had a chance to listen to them and talk to them. i believe that. >> an op-ed in "the jerusalem post" entitled "how would obama's speech play in ramallah" reads in part, obama delivered a potent plea to the israeli people to continue to work for peace, saying that not only was
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it the right, just the right thing to do, it was the smart thing to do. but one must request whether his chosen audience was indeed the one that needed convincing. >> josh, very moving words by the president in israel. >> yeah, it was. and to get a standing ovation in israel from young jews calling for a palestinian state is an achievement. >> mike, what did you think? >> strong day for the president. strong two days for the president in israel. not much in terms of policy, specific policy, but his presentation to various audiences and the things that he said to the various audiences and to the world were very powerful messages. >> and, sam, this is the president that obviously throughout much of his first term was not trusted by a large number of israeli people, but looking at these speeches, looking at the events yesterday, looking at all the things that he did, i suspect that is not
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going to be the case for much of the second term. he is engaged a way he hasn't been engaged in israel and i've got to believe it can only benefit the peace process moving forward. >> yeah. you know, there is a generational divide in israel much like there is here and there's a reason he spoke to young israelis as opposed to the kness knesset. it's clear. he wants to be able to move the israeli political process without having to directly engage either beebe or beebe's new government. you saw him talk about settlements being counterproductive. the right to sovereignty of the palestinian people. i thought it was a very important speech that you can do peace through security as well as security through peace. it's interesting part of the speech, not one of the speeches he's given in the last day, that he appears to be going a bit over the head on bebe right to
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the israeli people. it was kind of an awkward statement bebe had to put out after the fact that didn't really address the substance of what the president said. he said we agree the peace process needs to be restarted and move forward. >> you could hear the classic tones of obamaism. >> yes. >> the empathizing with your opponents, that we're all one people, almost a red/blue speech for the middle east. that's how it struck me. >> all right. we'll move to syria where the civil war there is only intensifying. a devastating bomb blast tore through a mosque in the capitol yesterday killing at least 42 people. among them one of the country's top clerics and a supporter of the government regime. the leading opposition group is denying responsibility for the attack. the united states, meanwhile, is opening its own investigation into claims that chemical weapons have been used in the fighting. president obama says that if the allegations prove true, it would be a, quote, game changer.
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senators carl evan and john mccain are now calling on the white house to take more active steps to force syria's president from power. the leaders of the armed services committee suggest using precision air strikes to target the military's aircraft without putting american troops on the ground. >> carl levin, huh? >> yeah. that's interesting. >> that is interesting. didn't expect that one. >> i know. i mean, he was for the iraq war and until he was against it, until bush became president. as long as we've got a democrat in there, i think the good people of syria can depend on carl levin to be with them. >> it's interesting that he's appearing with senator mccain who has been a very vocal advocate of more strength being thrown toward the rebels in syria, including alluding to, perhaps, you know, putting ground troops into syria. now levin and mccain combined. >> the drum beats are clearly growing louder. >> yeah. >> you know, this report of a chemical weapons attack seems to be something that we should step
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back and let the investigators investigate before we start -- >> by the way, we'd already have been there a long time ago but for the past decade of war. 70,000 dead in syria. and we would have gotten together with the international community. we would have figured out a way to stop the killing. >> some people would consider that a game changer. >> yes. 70,000. >> yes. that's what i'm saying. not so long ago we were talking about 20,000 dead out there. >> i know. >> now we're up to 70,000 dead. you know, we went into bosnia and kosovo. >> right. >> for a lot less than 70,000 dead. >> preiraq war. >> exactly. >> just shows you how much the game has changed. >> a bunch of stories to get to. let's do gun control now. majority leader harry reid has made it clear that the senate's gun control bill will include provisions that would expand background checks to private gun
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sales. reid also called for amendments on banning assault weapons and high capacity magazines after those measures were left out of the final bill. but the proposals in the senate may not be enough for vice president joe biden. in a joint appearance with mayor michael bloomberg in new york city yesterday, biden evoked the memories of the newtown shooting and implored lawmakers to ban assault weapons. >> for all those who say we shouldn't and can't ban assault weapons, for all those who say the politics is too hard, how can they say that? when you take a look at those 20 beautiful babies and what happened to them. and those six teachers and administrators. tell me how it violates anyone's constitutional right to be limited to a clip that holds ten rounds instead of 30.
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>> it doesn't of course if you actually read the constitution and supreme court decisions. there is the need to get the 60 votes. >> yeah. >> to get something through the senate. and you're just not going to get 60 votes on assault weapons right now. you're not going to get 60 votes on high capacity magazines right now. >> yes. >> i think, though, i really do believe that even if republicans are dragging their feet now, if you have a vote on criminal and mental background checks, republicans are not going to want to have to go -- especially the senate candidates -- are not want to have to go around saying, you know what? i opposed making it tougher for felons, for criminals to get guns. i want felons, i want convicts, i want rapists that have already been convicted to have a free pass when they go in and they go online. i want them to be able to buy guns on the internet.
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i want convicted rapists to have the freedom to go on a gun show and, please, give them the freedom. give them the liberty to buy another weapon that they can use in a violent act against a woman or against a man. you know what? republicans can't be against criminal and mental background checks unless they want to lose some senate campaign. >> let me get this straight. you think arming rapists is bad politics. >> well, no. there are a lot of people in washington right now who believe that the rapist, too, has a constitutional right to be able to purchase a gun on the internet because if we checked to make sure that rapists weren't able to purchase guns on the internet, if we checked to make sure rapists weren't able to purchase guns at gun shows, why that's a violation of all
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the constitutional rights. i'm not a philosopher, but i remember reading one time, growing up, this very moving, moving statement about the holocaust. first, they came for the rapists. and i said nothing. then -- you know where this ended up. the very fabric of the second amendment -- seriously i'm making a much bigger point here. good luck, republicans, being against background checks for criminals and people with mental health issues. >> here is the state of play. harry reid recommends exactly that and is also not a dummie. he's seen all the polls that say background checks at 90%. the math in the senate is a little more difficult but he wants to force the vote for precisely the reasons you talked about. >> literally a nightmare for republicans to be against background checks. >> i agree with you, yes. >> to stop rapists and other
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felons from just being checked when they go online or to a gun show. >> i agree. that is why he put it in the base bill. at the same time he recognizes he has parts of his own body that wants a vote on the assault weapons ban. >> the left arm? >> his own chamber. >> what are you talking about? >> whatever. >> it's early. >> yeah. i need more coffee. and he wants conservative democrats to have the opportunity to vote against an assault weapons ban. >> mike this is taking sam a long time. >> all right. i'm done. >> he's struggling. >> it gets to the incoherence, the mind boggling incoherence of opposition to universal background checks because they literally do the slippery slope argument. if you take the rapist's gun away from him then you're coming to get mine if you stop a rapist from being able to get a gun on the internet or if you stop a rapist from being able to get a gun at a gun show, well, i'm next. >> i'm next. no you're not. >> they're like -- the federal
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registration of guns and the sales records. and i happen to think that's sort of the red herring as well. >> that is a true index of how powerful the nra has become. we don't even keep track of guns. you have to use a proxy, fbi background checks. >> we aren't even really talking about what would really make a difference here. >> background checks would make a difference. i think 90% of most gun violence is done with hand guns. i think 2% -- i read 2% of the gun homicides are done via assault weapons. so if you can stop homicidal maniacs from buying a gun, a hand gun because of a background check i think that would make a difference. >> you think you could find another way to get them but it's a start. >> you talk to mike bloomberg, talk to other people that are champions right now of sensible gun regulation, they will tell you, yes, the assault weapon ban, especially in light of sandy hook, would be a very powerful symbolic victory. i agree. but mike bloomberg and others know if you really want to stop the gun violence not just in sandy hook but in chicago and
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across america, your best shot is having criminal and mental background checks. >> exactly. i think he also realizes this is the first step in a long process that began with newton but there is an important policy victory at stake. background checks, i think 40% of gun sales right now because of these loopholes don't include background checks. >> right. >> even getting that is a big first step forward. and a double whammy here, too. because the federal trafficking statute would allow you to come down hard on straw purchasers but only if you have a record of the purchase. so if you remove the record of the purchase from this equation it's very tough to come down hard on the straw purchasers. coming up on "morning joe" you won't see their faces on the dollar bill. daniel day lewis won't put them in any movies but that doesn't mean our forgotten presidents are any less important. that's the topic of a new book. later, the final work of our friend the late nora ephron. we'll talk to her son jacob
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bernstein about her new play "lucky guy" starring tom hanks. first, here's bill karins with a check of the forecast. >> none of us are lucky with this winter forecast continuing. i hope this is the last weekend i have to tell people about snow coming your way. temperatures are already frigid. look at this country. this wind chill map, i don't even like to show it this time of the year. literally the entire northern half of the country has wind chills below freezing this morning. that's going to set the stage for a snowstorm. the only really bad travel weather right now, mississippi, alabama, a little in the southeast in georgia. kind of cloudy, cool, with some rain but the next winter storm on the way, already winter storm watches for denver, kansas city, and st. louis and that will spread to indianapolis and columbus in the days ahead. who knows? maybe close to washington, d.c. i got my eyes on you as we go through sunday night into monday morning. maybe outside the city limits but it'll be a close call. here's how much snow one of my main weather computers is telling me is going to happen. it's the i-70 snow event. the white is 3 to 6 inches a wide swath of kansas, southern
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nebraska, missouri, kansas city, indianapolis. it does extend a little bit close to d.c. but maybe not into the city limits. that would be a timing for d.c. at least in the eastern seaboard would be monday morning. so here's your weekend forecast. as we shape up this weekend, the eyes will be on the storm. not so much today but as we go through saturday the snow begins in denver. look how cold it is, too. easily denver getting about 4 to 6 inches of snow out of this. then saturday night is when you accumulate snow in kansas city. you'll wake up sunday morning to snow in st. louis and much of the southern portion of the ohio valley. for d.c., during the day sunday possibly some wintry mix. if you're going to get accumulating snow around the nation's capital including baltimore it would be through the evening hours after the sun sets. we'll keep an eye on it. we don't need snow. we should be talking cherry blossoms this time of year. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks. we're here! we're going to the park! [ gina ] oh hey, dan!
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22 past the hour, live look at washington, d.c. here with us now constitutional law professor at the university of north carolina chapel hill, michael gerhardt. he is out now with a new book "the forgotten presidents, their untold constitutional legacy." i love this concept. welcome to the show. sam stein and lee gallagher back at the table. okay. so, michael, who is the most forgotten president? >> a great question. we thought about that a long time. i think the answer is millard fillmore. >> that's a good one.
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don't you think? >> who's that? >> exactly. >> okay. the second most forgotten president? >> probably william harry harrison. >> would you go with that? >> easily. definitely. my number one. >> now to the core of the book here because, clearly, there are a number of presidents who don't get mentioned that much in historical perspective and circles and talking about legacies, yet they leave tremendous legacies for our country. which ones did you find most important really for our country? >> the most important, the forgotten presidents? >> yeah. >> a tough question. millard fillmore is very important even though he is quite forgotten. he vigorously enforced the fugitive slave act and that turned out to be enormously controversial. a number of northern states didn't like it and threatened to secede and he had to go around the north arguing about the enforcement of federal law through the north and those
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arguments became very relevant later when lincoln became involved. >> can you make a case that being a forgotten president means you're doing a good job? >> yeah. interesting. >> say for solving a war which, you know, obviously is important or being assassinated which is tragic, if you are a forgotten president it means there's not a lot of controversial stuff going on, probably economic times are good. there's peace and prosperity. isn't that a valid case to make? >> it's a great point and i think you're probably right. it kind of puts you in the middle and people tend to be forgotten in the middle. >> yes. >> you remember the extremes, either great or really horrible. >> yeah. >> but if you're doing okay and not making huge ruffles, huge waves, then you're probably going to be forgotten. however, some of these people were probably very controversial at the time but enough time has passed where we don't remember them. >> what do you think, talk about president obama's legacy. where do you think he will fall in the legacies you talk about? and, you know, he still has a lot of talk about what he'll do between now and the end of the
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term. >> sure. we're still writing the story. he is still making the narrative. it's pretty easy to argue he will not be forgotten. the first african-american president, you can go through the list of things. health care law, osama bin laden for example. some of those things mark him and probably mark him for all time. in some respects i think this sort of goes back to your question, when there's really heated contests over something, when there is really a sharp conflict, that sometimes will mark somebody in a way that makes them more memberorable and he has had a number of heated contests that will no doubt make his legacy more memorable. >> why isn't jimmy carter on the list? are you anticipating he will be forgotten? >> it's a guess. in my estimation he shares enough in common with other forgotten presidents. perhaps in the future he will be forgotten what? >> like what? >> for example, i think he lost complete control of his
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narrative and therefore wasn't able to tell the story of his presidency and left it for others to tell. they don't tell a very good story and that makes it harder to remember what he actual di camp david accords? >> no doubt there are things -- >> his time on energy policy. >> the things he did but think to yourself for example which president today or maybe even in the near future would quote jimmy carter in a speech. odds are they wouldn't any more than they would millard fillmore. >> wow. >> i can't speak for anybody else. i quote millard fillmore all the time. >> the brzenzski thing. >> a kissinger thing. >> he's in there. >> calvin coolidge is having a bit of a renaissance from historians. but you have him on your list of forgotten presidents. >> right. there is a renaissance and as you probably well remember there was a renaissance when president reagan came into office. he put coolidge's portrait into the white house. but that legacy comes and goes and i think that is partly what makes it harder to remember. it's also that he did less.
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part of his program in office was in fact not to do very much. >> right. >> that makes it harder to remember. he also didn't like giving speeches so there's less written record to remember. >> dick cheney this past weekend i saw the show time documentary and dick cheney said something, i thought it was fascinating, he said, historians don't ever write books about what didn't happen. he said, we will never be judged for the attacks that never came. >> right. >> you could say that about a lot of these presidents. you know, for eight years ike was dismissed by even people in my own family as kind of a simple guy who liked to play golf a lot. he was one of the shrewdest presidents ever. hours of peace, suez crisis here, economic downturn here, but because of the slanted way historians view presidents is it possible we may have overlooked one of the greatest presidents of the 20th century in ike? >> it's a very good point. i actually think that also
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points to a really important theme in the book. it's the theme that your narrative or the narrative of your presidency isn't completely under your control. it's often left to others to tell after you leave office. what a president has to do in part is build enough of a record and have enough loyal people out there that are invested in what he did to make it more likely his legacy will be perpetuated. if you leave it for others to define it becomes more of a problem. >> how does technology affect this? obviously jimmy carter -- if you're a president in the television and digital age it would be a lot easier to remember you just practically. >> i think that is exactly right. there is going to be much more of a video record for example of any president which makes it harder to forget things. it also means there is much more information and therefore you may have a little more trouble figuring out what was important and what wasn't. >> so, quick. we're going to do a quick test here. >> okay. i wasn't ready for that. >> tell all the "morning joe" viewers one thing they need to know about chester arthur. >> chester arthur was a complete surprise as president. nobody thought he could do
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anything. thought he was a political hack. in fact, he came into office and tried to really be a president in principal which surprised people. he tried to do the job as best he could. >> grover cleveland elected twice. >> right. not to consecutive terms which made it harder for him. so he was a president two different ways. the first time he really blocked a lot of things. the second time he came into office he was very aggressive in exercising power and therefore might have been one of the first modern presidents. >> william henry harrison refused to die the overcoat. he died very quickly in office. did he accomplish anything other than that? i think so. >> awful. >> he died. >> that marks him in some respects. the other thing he accomplished which people had forgotten is that he faced off with henry clay at the time. harrison was the first w.i.g. which meant he was supposed to defer to congress but he didn't. he didn't want to do that. in fact, he helped early destruction of the w.i.g. party by standing up to the w.i.g. lead inner the senate. two weeks into his presidency the two men were talking which
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was not -- were not talking which was not a great beginning for the w.i.g. president. >> everyone knows william taft because of his girth. how can you forget a man like that? >> they also might know him as chief justice of the united states but probably not anything as president and that is why he is in there. >> good point. sat in the bath tub. >> millard fillmore ended up strongly defending federal power against a resistance from northern states for example. john tyler turned out not to be much of a w.i.g. in fact he really battled with congress a lot. that put him on the map. >> zachary taylor? >> turned out also to be a surprise because he demanded that the congress follow his will in admitting certain states that were thrown off the balance of the senate in favor of antislavery states and that was not what the w.i.g. party wanted. >> "the forgotten presidents" michael gerhardt. thank you so much. great to have you on the show. coming up "new york times" contributor jacob bernstein here
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to discuss an intriguing new play on broadway which happens to be written by his late mother and our friend the great nora ephron. that's next. 
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how much are you missing nora? horrible. terrible. i have to admit one of the reasons i wanted to do this was quite frankly to hang with nora. unfortunately, i have to settle for second place. i'm hanging with the essence of nora. and i'll probably just say her sensibility as opposed to nora, herself. >> that was tom hanks with his thoughts on the late nora ephron. hanks stars in nora's new play "lucky guy" on broadway now after she passed away last year from leukemia. joining us now is her son jacob bernstein, a contributor to the "new york times." he recently wrote for their sunday magazine about the new play and his mother's final years and final days. and in it in part he writes this. for most of the next three days before she entered a coma and died she was sort of herself, asking for the papers and doing the cross word. on sunday one of the nurses arrived to give her medication and innocently asked if she was
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planning on writing about what was happening to her. my mother simply said, no. i took this more or less at face value until after her death as plans moved forward with her play "lucky guy" and it occurred to me that part of what she was trying to do by writing about someone else's death was to understand her own. there's always more in what she's doing than meets the eye and you do get it later. right? >> yes. well, i think that, you know, mike makelary was a journalist for the new york post and daily news. a somewhat problematic human being as she saw him but he became in his final days a sort of remarkable person. he broke the police brutality case while he was getting chemotherapy. he won the pulitzer prize months before he died of colon cancer. i think she saw the way that he went on as -- and kept going
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until the very end as, you know, an inspiration in a certain way to do the same thing. >> and is that -- she didn't tell a lot of people she was so sick. >> no, she didn't tell a lot of people. she told a couple people early on, and a couple of them didn't handle it as well as she would have liked, you know. there was a lot of crying. >> so nora said i'm just not going to deal with it. >> yes. that was sort of it. i think she, you know, she was a hostess and she was a person who, you know, believed in butter and round tables and she didn't want every conversation, i say this in the piece, to become a series of how are you? >> that makes her tired. absolutely. >> you did say that there are clues sprinkled in some of her writings that you called out in your piece which i thought was very interesting. you know, if anybody was paying close attention, and maybe had a feeling, she was talking about it in her writings. >> there were a number of them. there was one obviously in "i remember nothing" which was the
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final collection of essays where she said, you know, the realization that i may only have a few good years left has hit me with real force and how she tries to, you know, do every day as if it's going to be her last and all of that stuff. but she didn't believe that there were sort of -- she didn't have any grand pronouncements about death and she said this that it eluded her. i think that was one of the reasons not to comment explicitly. but, you know, she was also trying to direct movies and to put a play on broadway and it would have been near impossible to do any of that had her illness been open. no insurance company would have allowed her to make a movie with mds. >> she is vivid in this piece. there is a little line about how she, a little part of her heart when she realized she couldn't wear her little black dress from paris anymore. i didn't know your mother and my
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mother grew up saying that to me so it is just a beautiful piece. was it difficult for you to write? >> in certain ways. i mean, it was also helpful i think, you know, to sort of process it. obviously it was a different -- you know, your editors have suggestions and on normal pieces you're sort of fine with it and on a piece like this it's like, why are you breaking my sentence up? that's my comma. suddenly you're having a fight over a comma. so there was a certain amount of that. but i think it turned out, you know, i'm happy with it. >> let's talk about the play. >> tell us about the play. i mean, how is it doing? >> the play is doing really well. the sales have been great. we're obviously all waiting on the reviews but george wolf, you know, is i think the greatest theater director alive basically and tom hanks is tom hanks. it's a very different part for him than obviously he ordinarily
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does because this guy is -- he's a tricky character. he's not a bad guy, but he's not the best husband. he's ambitious in a way that -- you know, hard driving. he was really a -- he was a problematic person. >> what's it like for you to watch it knowing that it's your mother's work, her legacy? i mean, do you go to the show a lot? do you see it a lot? >> i've seen several readings of it. and then i went and saw it about a week and a half ago and i will either see it this weekend or on monday. it was great to see. i didn't have that scary, emotional reaction of, you know, missing her, blah, blah, blah. i didn't have that. >> i don't think she'd want that either. >> yeah. >> did she prepare you? how did she prepare you for that? >> for all of it? well, she did and she didn't.
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when she went into the hospital to get chemotherapy we all thought, you know, there was a good chance it would work. and the speed at which she died was perhaps the most shocking thing. you know, she got this pneumonia and we thought, well, if she has neutrifill recovery, the good guys that protect you against infections, the pneumonia would go away and then they didn't come back. she had been treated for mds for so long that her marrow was like the sahara desert at the end. and so, you know, she didn't prepare us but i don't think that there are -- i think one of the things you learn is that these conversations that people have at the end of movies are not real. >> right. >> that, you know, that people die and it's sad and quiet and there are things that do go unsaid. >> yeah. >> that's what it is. >> and sometimes that's okay. >> yes. >> you know, i mean, talk about
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lucky to have nora as your mother. we loved her so much and we had some ideas we were working on with her. >> she loved this show. >> she was so funny. >> i'll tell you what. i decided i was going to stop, like, working 20 hours a day and start living when at one point we were calling her and she was, we were going to do this pitch, and she said, you know, i can't make it. i'm in malta. the plane's down. we're waiting for a part to be flown in. and i turned to mika and said, we're doing something else. she really did. she lived large. we were talking with somebody a couple days ago about paris and mika said, oh, i said do you still have the list nora gave you about the restaurants to go to? she goes, list? she gave me a folder. >> a total map. road map to eating in paris. >> she totally loved life. what do you take from that, from your mom's extraordinary legacy? >> well, a lot. you know, she was a great director. and that was true with me and my
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brother as well i think. she was, you know, and she was right about -- >> you mean she was a great director as a mother? >> yes. >> a scene out of the royal tannenbaums? >> sometimes difficult to talk to. i'd be reporting on a story and my mother would have known i was working on it for two weeks and she would say why isn't this out yet? have you called 12 people? you know. i'm not 12 anymore, mom. let me do this. >> oh, my gosh. well, jacob bernstein, thank you so much. >> thanks. >> lucky guy. a play by nora ephron, showing at the broadhurst theater in new york. visit lucky guy play.com for more details and go see it. so great to see you. come back. thank you very much. >> thanks a lot.
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welcome back to "morning joe." we'll go down to wall street. first, let 's look at the cover of "fortune" magazine. marijuana, inc. >> yes. wow. >> i guess the new prohibition is over. what's going on here? this is it. a great story that looks at, you know, last year people have been talking about the business of pot for a while but last year there were two ballot initiatives in washington state and colorado that really opened the flood gates for legalization of marijuana for any use not just medical and requiring that states actually license businesses to be able to sell it and really commercializing this industry in a way that is even more extreme than what happens in amsterdam. >> wow. really. >> this is big. only two states but there is a whole cadre of investors who
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think this is the next growth industry for the next ten years. >> for the record, sam stein was an investor in this industry. >> i wish. >> going back to high school. let's go out to cnbc and brian sullivan. what's the news today, my man? >> i don't have anything as interesting as the pot story, but i will transition -- >> why not? >> well, i'm just not that high on it. >> oh, my. >> it's friday. >> let's talk about secyprus. it's a tiny nation. people say why do i care. here's why you care. the next few hours could determine the fate of cyprus in the eurozone but the fate of the eurozone. here's why. the cyprion parliament is set to vote today, probably meeting right now trying to come up with plan c. they tried plan a and plan b. this may be plan c to see if it works. if it does not the ecb is backed into a corner. they've already threatened
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cyprus. if they back down it'll kill the ec b's authority and power but if they basically say, okay. no more aid, there is a good chance cyprus could leave the eurozone, which then potentially opens the door for the bigger nations like spain and italy. that's why you care. >> wow. >> about cyprus. >> i care deeply about cyprus. a country that your father referred to a couple hours ago as? >> a pseudo nation. >> i'm not sure what he called the guy. >> it was rough but it was interesting. brian sullivan, thank you. >> have a great weekend. >> thank you. you, too. >> marijuana inc. in "fortune" magazine. also just call sam stein in connecticut. we'll be right back. humans. even when we cross our t's and dot our i's,
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. did you come here in a limo? >> no, i came in here in something even better. i came in a helicopter. >> wow! >> yes? >> where did you park it, in the street? >> no. i parked it on one of your big fields by the tennis courts over there. >> do you get to meet the president? >> yes. i've gotten to meet the president a bunch of times. i used to know how many times in my head i met the president but now i met him so many times that i can't keep count anymore.
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>> is the president's wife enchanting? >> yes, actually. she was. she is very smart. she is very nice. >> do you do math? >> i try not to. i have a calculator that helps me with my math and i have a state treasurer who helps me with my math. yes? >> what's your budget? >> what's my budget? let's see. the budget right now is about $32.9 billion. >> ooh. >> i saw you on tv. >> did you. what was i doing? >> nothing. >> nothing? pretty usual. >> okay. that's pretty cute. >> that is cute. >> what's your budget? ha. that was governor chris christie yesterday answering questions from kids at stone harbor elementary on the jersey shore. they had good questions. >> they were succint, precise, and asked one question. >> yeah. you ought to think about learning from the kids there. >> who?
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